'The disease enslaved me': living with leprosy in Ghana – in pictures

Ekua Ketsewa, 76, with a family member in her new room in the village where she was born. Ketsewa decided to move after after living in a leprosy camp for 41 years
Photograph: Matilda Temperley/the Guardian/RPS

'The disease enslaved me': living with leprosy in Ghana – in pictures

Leprosy, a disease written about since biblical times, remains endemic in many poorer parts of the world. More than 50 people are diagnosed each day, with numerous others remaining undiagnosed because of stigma, fear or lack of medical access. Matilda Temperley, the 2016 Royal Photographic Society/Joan Wakelin bursary winner, has worked on a project looking at leprosy in Ghana

The Joan Wakelin bursary offers photographers £2,000 and the chance to see their work in the Guardian. It is jointly administered by the Guardian and the Royal Photographic Society. The 2017 bursary is open for entries

Main image:
Ekua Ketsewa, 76, with a family member in her new room in the village where she was born. Ketsewa decided to move after after living in a leprosy camp for 41 years
Photograph: Matilda Temperley/the Guardian/RPS

Sun 29 Jan 2017 04.00 EST
Last modified on Thu 6 Apr 2017 09.04 EDT

Ekua Ketsewa, 76

Ketsewa was diagnosed with the disease aged 30 and lived in a leprosy camp for 41 years. This picture was taken the morning before she moved back to the village where she was born. She said: ‘A few years ago stigma and discrimination disappeared and a lot of people went back to their families’

Kofi Nyarko, 45

Pictured at home in Ankaful, Cape Coast, Nyarko is a teacher who has spent his life fighting the social stigma surrounding leprosy. He said: ‘To be able to reduce stigma we went door to door, village to village, chief to chief. When people understood [it’s] curable, treatment is free and it is not easy to catch, the stigma stopped.’